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The USA Politics Thread

#5761 User is offline   Silencer 

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Posted 25 August 2017 - 02:19 AM

View PostMacros, on 24 August 2017 - 09:15 PM, said:

but I mean this level of lobbying to deregulate and effectively put millions in Lether level of debt, surely there had to be some senators standing up and saying "fuck this!" and bringing it to the public eye??


Bear in mind this is the political system that deregulated, refused to even consider there was a problem, and failed to implement meaningful, permanent regulations after the fact, on Wall St, before, during, and after the GFC.
The Chairman of the Federal Reserve was ideologically opposed to regulation. The Chairman of a regulatory body for the nation's banking. Was ideologically opposed to regulation. Senators, Congress, the Federal Reserve, and more all ignored, downplayed, and actively removed barriers to the GFC. To the point where they wrote a letter questioning the authority of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to regulate derivatives. The CFTC was told to GTFO from a discussion about something that should have been, for all intents and purposes, perfectly, neatly, and unquestionably within its purview.
The same people told the IMF, as well as renowned economists from its ranks, that their fears were unfounded and hysterical. Like, two to three years before the penny dropped.

Just because something is obviously, blatantly, and severely bad for the people, does not mean the Senate or the House will stand on principle against it, nor does it mean that enough of them will do so to make a difference. Plus, you know, lobbying, promises of lucrative post-government positions on boards and such, people who own debt collection companies not considering it a conflict of interest to be involved in legislation that creates debt, robo-voting/ghost-voting, you know...all the fun stuff that makes America far less than what it could be. Boils down to money, and a lack of ethics in most cases.
***

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<Vote Silencer> For not garnering any heat or any love for that matter. And I'm being serious here, it's like a mental block that is there, and you just keep forgetting it.

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#5762 User is offline   Macros 

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Posted 25 August 2017 - 06:00 AM

Man,
I think Bernie Sanders would have been an excellent president

This post has been edited by Macros: 25 August 2017 - 06:01 AM

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#5763 User is offline   Nicodimas 

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Posted 25 August 2017 - 06:26 AM

View PostHoosierDaddy, on 24 August 2017 - 11:01 PM, said:

I used to feel bad about my $130,000+ student debt (8 years, 5 under 3 law school). Now, I just accept it and pay under the Obama backed Income Based Repayment plan which is fair enough, but I realize it'll most likely never be fully re-paid. It'll have to be dismissed.

It's even worse now.

To be fair, however, the community college then university is a much cheaper route and they are pushing technical schools/apprenticeships as alternatives to a bloated system (at least in Indiana).



@ HD, your degree makes sense. How do you feel about children choosing paths that enable them with 100k debt for *lesser* degrees.

Hey! If is your passion that's cool, but damn if I don't think the last 15 years some folks got rich, and others got binded to debt. But hey some of those teachers/admins got paid. One of my first sales jobs was selling education to kids/adults and learned quite a lot about people that's definitely made me a lil jaded. As a note the charts are all sorts of screwed up, they only track the debt of finished degrees under a certain timeline too. F that, some kids are paying down debt on a degree they shouldn't have pursued as they have nothing to show for it..

Overall, I'm for government forgiveness as people, especially a certain part of society got preyed on. Oh my! Have you driven by your university recently.. ASU is a square mile and if you factor in sports arenas who knows...Massive and Upgraded.

The current millennials got hosed. Rewind that debt .. The next fifteen years are going to bite into our society ultra hard with automation and the ultra-capitalists of Silicon Valley.. Society will move ahead quick and people will be left in the dust if this debt sticks around. It ain't right

This post has been edited by Nicodimas: 25 August 2017 - 06:29 AM

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#5764 User is offline   Cause 

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Posted 25 August 2017 - 07:01 AM

View PostHoosierDaddy, on 24 August 2017 - 11:01 PM, said:

I used to feel bad about my $130,000+ student debt (8 years, 5 under 3 law school). Now, I just accept it and pay under the Obama backed Income Based Repayment plan which is fair enough, but I realize it'll most likely never be fully re-paid. It'll have to be dismissed.

It's even worse now.

To be fair, however, the community college then university is a much cheaper route and they are pushing technical schools/apprenticeships as alternatives to a bloated system (at least in Indiana).


WTF! People in my country launched strikes around the country because government subsidies dropped from 50 percent to about 33 over the last decade or so. That's insane!
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#5765 User is online   worry 

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Posted 25 August 2017 - 10:13 PM

Well here is DJT's head of FEMA Brock Long on the hurricane, from a few weeks ago:

Quote

Long has stressed in interviews with The Washington Post that state and local officials need to improve their emergency readiness and recognize that it is not the federal government's responsibility alone to respond to natural disasters.

Long has also urged citizens to understand that they will often be their own first responders in a crisis.

"People need to be the help before the help arrives," he said earlier this month.


You're on your own, buddy. Be safe.

https://www.washingt...39f5_story.html

This post has been edited by worry: 25 August 2017 - 10:13 PM

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#5766 User is online   worry 

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Posted 25 August 2017 - 10:18 PM

https://twitter.com/...164623608647681
Asked if he had a message for the people of Texas, Pres Trump said "good luck to everybody," and gave a thumbs up.
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#5767 User is offline   Tiste Simeon 

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Posted 27 August 2017 - 08:57 AM

Yeah on the evening of the hurricane, Trump banned trans people from the military and pardoned Arpaio. He tweeted about how great he was doing.

Then told everyone in Texas "good luck."

If you think this administration cares even one whit about the plight of the people of the country, you are only deluding yourself.
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#5768 User is offline   Tsundoku 

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Posted 27 August 2017 - 09:00 AM

View PostTiste Simeon, on 27 August 2017 - 08:57 AM, said:

If you think this administration cares even one whit about the plight of the people, you are only deluding yourself.


FTFY.
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#5769 User is offline   amphibian 

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Posted 28 August 2017 - 04:39 AM

View PostDown South, on 28 August 2017 - 04:18 AM, said:

Is anything happening in the world yesterday or today? Our tvs haven't moved from Weather Channel except when I watched GoT tonight.

I don't know, man. That's a question unanswerable even with this vast thing called the internet out there for you to use or flipping to another channel or reading a newspaper or magazine or going outside and observing.

Dadgumit, I just can't think of anything.
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#5770 User is offline   Aptorian 

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Posted 28 August 2017 - 05:09 AM

Well, that was today's surprisingly friendly and helpful post from Amphibian. This post was sponsored by Cheerio's - "Please don't piss in them".
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#5771 User is offline   Gorefest 

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Posted 28 August 2017 - 09:59 AM

Hope all forummers in the Houston and other affected southern regions are okay? Hang in there, DS.
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#5772 User is offline   Tiste Simeon 

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Posted 28 August 2017 - 10:06 PM

The good old president is on holiday (again) while his staff struggle to manage the crisis. He has tweeted a bunch where he sounds almost proud *OF THE HURRICANE ITSELF, NOT THE PEOPLE WORKING CONSTANTLY TO HELP THE PEOPLE SUFFERING* like "Wow! I'm told this is the biggest hurricane ever!" There's a picture making the rounds of him all alone on holiday while the rest of his staff deal with things (oh and he's wearing a hat you can get on his website for $40...)

Oh he also did a random tweet saying Mexico was going to pay for the wall again, while Mexico responded by sending people to help Texas...

But hey, her emails and stuff. Probably Obamas fault, this whole situation.
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#5773 User is offline   Tiste Simeon 

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Posted 29 August 2017 - 09:53 PM

Oh, and maybe this should go in the comedy thread but I'm not really laughing... I've seen a while bunch of screenshots of people STILL defending the orange buffoon, saying "well where was Obama when Katrina hit? He was on holiday!"

Bush was in power then, not Obama...
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#5774 User is online   worry 

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Posted 29 August 2017 - 10:21 PM

Says you. I'm gonna side with this brain trust:
Trump to Ben Carson about the name "Harvey": "Sounds like such an innocent name, Ben, right? But it's not innocent. It's not innocent."

https://twitter.com/...636485941321730
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#5775 User is online   worry 

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Posted 29 August 2017 - 10:45 PM

Credit where credit is due. He's definitely down in Texas doing his thing.

Spoiler

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#5776 User is offline   Malankazooie 

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Posted 30 August 2017 - 12:47 AM

View PostTiste Simeon, on 29 August 2017 - 09:53 PM, said:

Oh, and maybe this should go in the comedy thread but I'm not really laughing... I've seen a while bunch of screenshots of people STILL defending the orange buffoon, saying "well where was Obama when Katrina hit? He was on holiday!"

Bush was in power then, not Obama...

The "Thanks Obama" mantra was not understood as a joke for a lot of the fly over red states. They legitimately thought the following happened during Obama's administration: "Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The financial crisis (subprime mortgage loans and credit default swaps) and the accompanying "Great Recession" are but a few examples.

And Fox News fueled this narrative.
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#5777 User is offline   amphibian 

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Posted 30 August 2017 - 02:55 AM

View PostDown South, on 30 August 2017 - 12:08 AM, said:

Speaking of the possible LA visit many people on my FB are getting very concerned about it IF his plans are to come inspect our city and drawing protesters in this stressful time. Idk if I even have the urge to try to even attend if it's a public address.

I guess I should note so it's clear that it wouldn't be a froth at the mouth "LOCK HER UP!" need on my part if I chose to go, but a holy crap the POTUS is coming to my small city rare event type of thing. I saw the Clintons in 96 and I was so far back my thumb blocked out Bills head. I expect it would be the same here.

Are you aware that Trump and the Republicans have proposed a budget that will cut FEMA's programs by as much as 61% in some areas?

He can visit and he can speechify, but he and his party want to murder and impoverish by mundane paperwork hundreds of thousands, if not millions, in the future.

This is what you are tacitly supporting if you turn up and get glommed into his narrative of "the American people support me" via crappy tightly shot pictures of small crowds.
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#5778 User is offline   amphibian 

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Posted 30 August 2017 - 02:56 AM

http://blog.ucsusa.o...er-preparedness
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#5779 User is online   worry 

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Posted 30 August 2017 - 03:17 AM

The bad news is that it's all true. Plus this of course: http://www.newsweek....rvey-hit-655712

The good news is that it's DJT fulfilling the goals of the old-fashioned, starve-the-beast regular right, and not the alt-right. Genocides drawn along class lines with racial undertones are, frankly, more civil than genocides based overtly on race or ethnicity. He's finally becoming presidential imo.
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#5780 User is offline   Maark Abbott 

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Posted 30 August 2017 - 07:40 AM

You mean to tell me that this isn't actually that there Bay-rack Ober-mar's fault?

Us over the pond are sort of wondering what happened, you know.
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